Pepe, once a high-flying memecoin, is falling back to Earth after several large token transfers by its developers have sparked fears of an impending rug-pull.
The token, which is based on a cartoon frog with a complicated history, fell as much as 18% on Friday morning after the multi-sig wallet that contains the developers’ Pepe coins sent about $16 million worth of the tokens to multiple crypto exchanges.
According to boutique digital asset research firm ASXN, the developers changed the number of signatures required for funds to be transferred from the wallet to two out of eight from five out of eight, making it easier to move the tokens. The crypto wallet then sent millions of dollars in Pepe tokens to several exchanges, a sign that the tokens could soon be sold.
The wallet sent $8.36 million to OKX, $6.6 million to Binance, $438,000 to Bybit, and $400,000 to an unknown exchange or wallet, according to ASXN. Around $10 million worth of Pepe cryptocurrency remains in the developers’ wallet.
1/4
— ASXN (@asxn_r) August 24, 2023
1 hour ago, the Pepe multisig wallet, changed the amount of signatures required on their multisig from a 5/8 to 2/8. This comes after sending $15.7 million worth of $PEPE to exchanges.
A breakdown of what we know: pic.twitter.com/bxBxp6Nzqz
While many on Crypto Twitter were upset about the developers’ sudden transfers, some chose to see the brighter side of things. Several among the Pepe faithful said the developers should sell the remaining $10 million they control so true believers can snap them up.
the @pepecoineth devs used to hold 6% of the $pepe and sold 16T tokens equaling 4% of the supply.
— Kenobi (@OG_Kenobi_Hello) August 24, 2023
No other wallet (besides exchanges) hold more than 0.9% of the supply, except the #pepe dev wallet which now holds 2%
This is long-term bullish for $pepe.
SELL THE REMAINNG 2%!!! pic.twitter.com/0H7ksWtcpZ
The Pepe cryptocurrency was created in April by anonymous developers that run its account @pepecoineth on X (formerly Twitter). Building on the success of previous memecoins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, Pepe rose to a market cap of $1.6 billion in just three weeks, Fortune reported. After the developers’ transfer, the coin’s market cap is sitting at about $350 million.